Biokyra

Sunday, November 29, 2015

In
the past few years, we have seen 3D printing helping medical procedures and
surgeries around the world. Based on CT scans, printed bones to organs
such as hearts have all been made to assist physicians. It can be applied to
just about any medical field and Dr. Ivar Mendez, head of surgery at the
University of Saskatchewan, proved that by 3D printing a brain replica for a
complex deep brain stimulation procedure.

The
procedure involves opening the skull and inserting electrodes into toe brain
folds and a small error can do permanent damage. So Dr. Mendez always carefully
prepares using computer simulations, but this time the technology failed him.
The limitations of the software became apparent as it could not predict how the
tissue would react. That’ why the Canadian physician contacted the University’s
school of engineering and assembled a team of experts: engineers, a
radiologist, MRI specialists and neuropsychologists. All with the purpose of
translating complex brain MRI data into 3D printable files.

After about seven months of work, they 3D printed an
initial prototype in rubber, but that didn’t accurately display the necessary
smaller features. Just now, Mendez and his team completed a larger, more
detailed model he can work with. ‘You can actually do the surgery. You can
actually put the needle in the brain,’ he said of the surgical model. ‘You can
get really lost, because you really don’t know. But when you have the model it
lets you see exactly where you want to go,’ he adds. 3D printed in transparent
synthetic rubber, this brain replica even matches the consistency of an actual
brain.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

A new 3D printing technology enables the
creation of medical devices such as catheters for premature newborns customised
to each patient. These devices will be stronger and lighter than existing
models.

"If you can print a catheter whose geometry is
specific to the individual patient, you can insert it up to a certain critical
spot, you can avoid puncturing veins, and you can expedite delivery of the
contents," said Randall Erb, assistant professor at Northeastern
University in US.

“Using magnets, Erb and Martin's 3D printing method
aligns each minuscule fibre in the direction that conforms precisely to the
geometry of the item being printed. The researchers "magnetise" the
ceramic fibres by dusting them very lightly with iron oxide, which, Martin
notes, has already been approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for
drug-delivery applications.”

Sunday, November 1, 2015

McKinsey
& Co. released anew report, called "Improving healthcare
while curbing cost: Med-tech companies offer a solution", showing that the
medtech industry has to, not only build awareness of its products and
solutions, but also build credibility among hospitals.

The
McKinsey survey 157-hospital executives in the U.S. and Europe, fewer than half
ranked the clinical and technical expertise of large equipment manufacturers as
"excellent." The result was even worse for makers of devices and
consummables. Only 19% of hospital executives responded that large medtech
makers' understanding of the hospital business was "excellent."

"With few
exceptions, med-tech companies do not offer to share risk with their hospital
customers," the report charges. "They focus on marketing the
technical features of their products and price accordingly. Yet providers say
they are more willing to work with med-tech partners if they know they share
the risks as well as the benefits of the arrangement."

The report suggests that there is a $44 billion
opportunity in the U.S. if medtech companies work with hospitals and provide
"beyond the product" solutions. It also points out that
executing contractual agreements where medtech companies share risk would help
to build credibility.